2 field hospitals for the metro rail workers

In the hope of building confidence in engineers and workers, the metro rail project authorities are setting up two field hospitals for their employees infected with coronavirus. 

Beds and oxygen cylinders have reached the sites in the capital's Uttara and Gabtoli, where the hospitals will be built with a capacity of between 10 and 15 beds, officials said.

"We hope to finish the work by next week. We will need some time to engage the doctors," said MAN Siddque, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL).

He had talked with the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) about how many medical personnel might be needed to run the facilities.

Currently, six doctors trained in Covid-19 treatment are providing health services for the employees of Mass Rapid Transit (MRT)-6, which is being built between Uttara and Motijheel. Another team is collecting samples from workers for Covid-19 tests, he added.

Physical work for the country's first metro rail came to a halt after the government in late March shut down the economy to contain the spread of coronavirus. The project work progressed by only 0.55 percent in the last two months and as of last month it made an overall 44.67 percent progress.

While the authorities are trying to accelerate the construction work, 55 workers have already tested positive and many others have not gone back to the sites, officials said.

Amid growing concern over the slow progress, the Fast Track Project Monitoring Taskforce held a meeting on Thursday with Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus in the chair.

DMTCL Managing Director Siddique told Kaikaus that Japan had restricted its citizens from leaving the country. "Since most of the lead contractors and consultancy firms are from Japan, their absence is a problem," a participant quoted Siddique as saying.

Siddque told this correspondent that his company has made deals with several private hospitals for treatment of the employees.

Around half of the employees working at the sites have been tested, he said, adding that 55 tested positive and 21 of them have recovered while the others are in isolation, he said.